The Dallas Mavericks' zone defense was so effective last season -- whether it was early in the year to the throw a wrench at teams in crunch time, or in the NBA Finals to force the more athletic Miami Heat into a bombs-away approach -- that is was widely regarded as the best in the business.

But, without Tyson Chandler in the middle barking orders and with an influx of new players unfamiliar with the mechanics -- and add that assistant coach Dwane Casey, the defensive architect who called most of the sets, is now the head coach in Toronto -- one has to wonder if the zone will continue to be a part of Dallas' defensive repertoire or, at least, an effective part of it.

"Definitely, the zone is where it shows how long you’ve been together because it’s a lot of pointing and switching on the fly and matching up," Dirk Nowitzki said. "So, we’ll see how ready we are."